BRISTOL, Tenn. — A pair of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates were eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Saturday after making the same mistake at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Both Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. had untimely pit road speeding penalties during the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, and for the latter, it was extra sour.
Running second for much of the race, Truex was in position to transfer to the round of 12 after entering 14 points below the cutline. He pitted during a lap 329 caution for a Corey LaJoie crash but was too fast entering, requiring him to restart at the tail end of the lead lap cars.
In a dire points situation — more than 20 points below the cutline — crew chief James Small encouraged him to increase his aggressiveness to get back toward the front.
But in dirty air, Truex couldn’t go anywhere. As Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe – two of his biggest competitors – ran inside the top five, his hope dwindled as the final 163 laps ran green.
In his final full-time season, Truex departs after just the first round. He finished 21 points below the cutline after finishing 20th or worse in all three playoff races thus far.
“We did good in the first two stages – we got a lot of points,” Truex said. “I guess we would have had to run second or third to make it through – who knows if we would have been able to. I wish we could have seen if we could have done that.
“I’m just gutted for my team. We worked so hard this week. We all put in a lot – all season long, and in the last three weeks, just snake bit. Can’t do anything right. .09 mph hurts really bad to take the chance away to know if we even could have done it. I don’t know if we could have run second – maybe.
“We were close to it – all day – but in the end, it doesn’t matter. I feel terrible for my guys.”
Gibbs’ speeding penalty came earlier in the race, but for the most part, he recovered from it.
Finishing the opening stage in eighth, Gibbs sped on pit road during the break. Pitting in the second to last box on the backstretch, the 21-year-old fired out of his stall after service but cut the apex too short through Turns Three and Four.
The penalty bogged the second-year driver in the mid-20s, but Gibbs clawed back inside the top 10 in the final 100 laps.
In need of at least a top-five or help from either Hamlin and Briscoe, Gibbs trailed Daniel Suárez by four points with 50 to go. As he tried to make a last-ditch rally, he burned up his right rear tire and ultimately fell outside the top 10.
Gibbs finished 15th and missed the transfer by 11 points.
“I feel like we were really good in practice and qualifying, just a little bit too loose tonight and fired off too tight,” Gibb said. “Just unfortunate.”
“The speeding penalty is on me. Just we run under the lights so close, and I just got a little bit too much, I guess. My fault. Unfortunate. Proud of these guys and all the effort that they’ve given me and we’ll keep hammering down.”
Suárez got the final spot on points while Hamlin and Briscoe each eked out spots in the round of 12. Brad Keselowski and Harrison Burton also failed to transfer.